Loaded handgun among items stolen in Rockaway residential burglary

ROCKAWAY - A loaded handgun was among the
items reported stolen after a daytime burglary at a Hibernia Avenue
house Thursday, Aug. 23, police said.

According to police, officers were called to
the house at 4:24 p.m. that day on a report of a burglary in
progress with the possibility the burglars were still in the
house.

Officers arrived at the residence and were
told by a resident he had a loaded .22 caliber Ruger handgun in an
armoire in the master bedroom. Officers entered the house through
the back door and began checking the house. After ascertaining the
house was empty, police called the homeowner upstairs and asked him
to show them where he kept the gun. He went to the armoire and
opened a storage container. The gun was gone.

A Morris County K-9 unit and county
investigators were called to assist at the scene. Investigators
determined the house had been entered by the front door. It had
been forced open and the locks were broken on the door frame by
someone either kicking it or putting a shoulder to it. It appeared
the burglars went upstairs first, then returned to the first floor
and were in the dining room when the owner returned home. They
apparently heard him and quickly ran out the front door. Some
footprints and other partial prints were recovered. The residents
said there were definitely things missing. Two watches were found
on the floor in the dining room. They were going to complete an
inventory for police. The wife of the man who returned home and
discovered the burglary recalled she had seen a large black man in
her yard about two weeks prior to the burglary. She said the man
was in her side yard and told her he was checking meters, but that
he did not have a badge.

In other news, police made several trips to
a Wall Street rooming house in the past 10 days and ended up
arresting people wanted on warrants.

An officer who went to the Wall Street
building to check on a report of a man lying in the hallway of a
rooming house at 7:13 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2, ended up arresting
Donald E. Hunter, 37, of Victory Gardens on an outstanding contempt
warrant from Dover court.

A woman told the officer she had seen the
person in the hall and that he had refused to leave when asked to
do so by other residents. She said she believed the person had now
gone to Al's Roadhouse. The officer found Hunter there and
discovered the warrant outstanding and arrested him. Hunter said he
could not post the $2,500 bail so he was turned over to Dover
Police.

Another officer made an arrest at the same
rooming house on Wall Street of Peter P. O'Neil, 42, of Rockaway,
also on a contempt warrant. O'Neil told the officer he would not be
able to post $148, which was the amount due on the Chatham Township
warrant when he was picked up at 8:40 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2.
After checking with Chatham authorities, the officer was asked to
have O'Neil call the court and release him.

Officers were once again at the Wall Street
rooming house at 4:45 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2, on a report of an
unwanted person refusing to leave the building. The owner directed
police to Tracy A. Apgar, 34, of Denville. While the officer
escorted Apgar out of the building, he asked for her identification
information. A check revealed warrants outstanding from Randolph
Township with bail of $1,005. Apgar was arrested and ended up being
taken to Randolph police headquarters.

John Keith Miller, 25, of Rockaway turned
himself in at headquarters on an outstanding contempt warrant from
the borough court. He and a bail bondsman arrived at headquarters
at 9:18 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31 to complete the paperwork to post
the $2,500 bail. He was then given a new court date and
released.

In other news, a father who apparently does
not approve of his 22 year-old daughter's date for the evening
alarmed the suitor by threatening to kill him and wielding a meat
cleaver when the date dropped the daughter off at her Rockaway
Avenue home.

The 23 year-old date left the street and
drove around the corner and called police.

He told an officer he was dropping off his
date at 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27 after they had attended a
movie together. He said the woman's father ran out of the house and
began shouting at him. Among the things the father yelled, he said,
was, "Get out of here or I will kill you." He said the father then
told the daughter to get out of the car and into the house. He said
his date was gathering up her things when the father came back
outside holding a meat cleaver and again told the date to leave and
escorted his daughter into the house. The date told police he
didn't want to pursue any action, but was worried about what the
father would do to the daughter.

The officer went to the Rockaway Avenue home
in question. The father answered the door and the officer asked to
speak with his daughter. The officer spoke with both parents and
the daughter and informed them of the reason for his visit. The
father admitted making the statements and going outside with the
meat cleaver. He said he was not upset with the 23 year-old man his
daughter had gone out with, but with his daughter. He said his
daughter said she was going out with a girlfriend and had instead
returned home, late, with a boy of whom he did not approve her
dating.

The daughter said she was not hurt and was
not afraid of her father. She did note she was upset her father did
not approve of her dating the man in question. The officer said if
the family needed any help, they should call police.

A Pine Street office tenant reported a screw
gun in a case, worth $200, was stolen from the back of his car
while it was parked in the lot on Pine Street. He said the car was
locked, but when he returned to the vehicle at 5 p.m. on Wednesday,
Aug. 22, after having parked at 7:30 a.m., he noticed the gun was
gone.

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In recent weeks, Long Hill Township and Watchung Borough passed ordinances allowing their police departments to be able to apply for surplus equipment from the Department of Defense. Long Hill recently procured a Humvee to use in times of flooding, which Watchung states as the reason they are getting into the program. However, in cities around the country, police forces have used the program to obtain military gear, such as weapons and armor.
For more background, go to the link below
http://www.newjerseyhills.com/echoes-sentinel/news/watchung-police-department-hopes-to-receive-equipment-from-department-of/article_12ad002a-92b3-5449-a2cc-4b2cf0ce4339.html